Payroll Audit

A payroll audit is an inspection of payroll records by a third party to ensure that records are accurate and well kept, and to identify problems before they come up on an external audit.

In a payroll audit, the auditor inspects all of the documentation related to the payroll, verifying that it is correct and looking for signs of issues such as employees with incomplete payroll histories, deductions which do not match contributions, and so on. The auditor also identifies the responsible persons for handling payroll procedures, and test employees to confirm that they are using the most recent protocol.

For an internal audit, companies can use their own staff or hire an audit service for conduct the audit. Audit results as per third party is more reliable as they conduct audit independently as compare to internal audit results.

External audits may be requested by tax authorities and insurance companies. In these cases, the entity requesting the audit handles the audit or hires an auditor to do the payroll audit. Companies should be aware that refusal of an audit is generally viewed as an admission of guilt. It is advisable to cooperate and to retain legal counsel to learn more about which

Documents need to be surrendered to the auditor and how the auditing process works.

The result of an external audit can vary, depending on why it was ordered and what the results were. An insurance company, for example, might adjust the amount of a premium on the

basis of the audit. If a payroll audit reveals that a company is doing things like collecting tax contributions and not submitting the funds to the government, the company will face legal penalties.

Often governments provide free guidelines online for how to prepare for this process and what to expect when the government officials come into your office.

Any government branch that takes deductions from pay could be responsible for a call to audit.

Whether it is to look at tax deductions, pension, health care or unemployment insurance. The

auditors’ job is really just to make sure all deductions are on the up and up.